Device for transmitting power



1. n. meins. A DEVICE FOR TRANSMITTING POWER. APPLICATION FILED APR. 6| 1916. RENEWED AUG. 7, 1920.

Patented 1, 1921-.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Il J. R. ROGERS. DEVICE FCR TRANSMITTING POWER. APPLICATION man APR. e. 191s. RENEWED Aue. 7, 1920.

Patented Mar. 1, 1921'.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- ro n envier, rea raansmrrme Specification of Letters Patent.

Patenten Ivrea i', resi..

Applicationtiled April 1916, Serial No. 89,304. RenewedAugust 7, 1920. Serial No. 402,932.

To all lwwm t may concern:

Be it known that l, JOHN R. Roenes, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and resident of the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful im roveinents in Devices for 'lransmitting ower,

of which the following is a full, clear, and' exact specication.

My present inventionis an improvement upon that described and claimed 1n my apey plcation Serial N o. 15202, filed March 18, 1915, and discloses certain forms or arrangements of apparatus further illustratingthe application of the broad principles of that prior invention.

In the following I have described, in connection with the accompanying drawings, a form of device embodying the principles of this invention, the features thereof being -more particularly pointed out hereinafter in the claims.

ln the drawings, Figure l is a side view of the device partly in section and partly broken away; Fig. 2 is. a cross sectional view of the device shown in Fig. 1 along the line A-B, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 3 is a plan view, in section, of a locking means.

Similar numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views.l In the drawings 1 indicates the driving shaft 2, the driven shaft and 3 the Cardan shaft adapted to be driven by the driven shaft through 'the usual clutch mechanism fi, here shown as a cone clutch. The driven shaft 2 finds bearings in the driving shaft and the Cardan shaft in the usual way, 5, 5, indicating bearings for the driven shaft and the Cardan shaft arranged inaccordance with the usual practice. Driving shaft 1- carries the usual fly-wheel 6 keyed to the shaft which is shown as having collar 7 bolted thereto, 8 indicates a drum or casing mounted to rotate on bearings 9 and 10 in turn mounted on the driven and driving shafts respectively. Drum 8 incloses the driving gear 11 fast on driving shaft 1 and carries, mounted in bearings in its walls,

shafts 12 and 12 carrying driven gears 13v .a fly-wheel. rlhis fly-wheel e 17 in roller lock mechanism 18, for the purpose hereinafter set forth. 19 and 19 indicate eccentrics keyed on driving shaft 1 and held in position between collars 7 and 20 and 20 and 21 respectively. 22 and 22 indicate eccentric straps surrounding eccentrics 19 and 19 respectively. 23 and 23 indicate slots in eccentric straps 22 and 22' respectivel near the outer ends thereof and 24 and 24e indicate pins engaging slots 23 and 23 respectively and mounted fast in the wall-of drum 8. collars surrounding pins 24 and 24 respectivelyand lying between the respective eccentrlc straps and the wall of the drum.

26 and 27 and 26 and 27 indicate springs and 22', the gears 13 and la and 13 and la and the springs 26 and 27 and 26 and 27 in duplicate and that l have mounted said gears and springs upon the c lindrical casing2 drum or gear-box 8. l e said casing by its weight and shape is adapted to act as ect is of importance as it enables the device to drop into intermediate and low speeds when the torque of the engine is less than the re- -sistance of the springs. For example-sv when running along a level road with the throttle half Open, the torque of the engine is suiiicient to drive the car at a moderate speed in direct drive, the resistance of the springs being greater than'the torque of the engine. now a moderate incline is reached whereby the resistance` of the driven shaft is considerably increased, even if the throttle is left untouched, the device will pass' into intermediate and possibly` low gear. power stored up in the casing is sufficient to carry the casing around, overcoming the resistance of the springs and causing the eccentric straps to work whereby the advantageof the gears is obtained and the device will go into Iintermediate or low gear in the vsame way as if the throttle was wide open,

soi

In such case the momentum or The operation of thel device as described i is as follows:

- trics tends to cause rotation of ,drum 8, be-

cause springs 26, 27 and 26', 27' are'in strong tension and tend to resist the action of the eccentrics .1nd hence, up to the limit of the tension of the springs, it is as if .the-

eccentric straps were fastened solidly to the drum and incapable of movement relative thereto, so that eccentrics,- eccentric straps and drum move as one. driving shaft 1 thus carrying drum 8 around with it, through gears 11, 13, 14 and 15 being interlocked with each other and all moving with the drum, drives driven shaft 2 at the same speedso `long as the clutch is disengaged. After speeding up the engine as usual, the clutch is permitted to come into engagement and the car tends to start. If the resistance of inertia of the car to be overcome in starting, is less than the tension of the springs 26, 27 and 26', 27', the clutch will slip slightly as usual and the car will start on high gear or direct drive. If the resistance of inertia of the car is greater than the tension of the springs, the. power or torque of the driving shaft is divided between the eccentrics and' the gear 11. As the eccentrics go around they give an impulse at every l, revolution equal to the tension of the springs when they are most extended. The torque of the driving shaft acting on gear 11 is expended on gears 13 and 14, and 13' and 14', tending to drive gear 15 and thedriveny shaft at a speed proportional to the gears 1 1, 13,

14 and 15 which in the case illustrated 1s as three to one. In other words, the torque exerted through the eccentrics tends to drlve the. driven shaft in the ratio of one to one or at the speed of the driving shaft, while and three to one.

ythe torque transmitted t rough the gear and the torque exerted through gear 11 tends to drive the driven shaft in the ratio of three to one. The driven shaft will then turn at a speed proportional tothe resistance against said driven shaft which will be somewhere intermediate between one to one Ex erience shows that gears 15, 14, 13 vand 11, will start to ro- The rotation of tate in the opposite direction. This tendency to rotate backwardly will be stopped bythe pinching of flange 16 in 'slot 17 of locking means 18, the movement of the flange in the direction opposite the arrow in Fig; 3 causing. balls 29 to wedge between the walls of the lock yand the flange begio cause of the wedge-shaped chamber 3,0-of-v` and the device operates exactly as the ordii nary change gear device in low gear. As soon however as the resistance beginsto decrease, the extension of the springs lthrough the eccentrics tends to cause the drum 8 to rotate and the torque -of the driving' shaft once more divides itself automatically as 'above set forth, untilthe resistance becomes less than the power needed to extend the springs, whereupon the drumA will rotate again at the same speed as the driving shaft and transmitting the same speed to the driven shaft thea-.car will be driven in a manner corresponding exactly to the direct drive -of the ordinary automobile.'

It lwill be yseen that in the use of this device it is not necessary for the driver or operator to shift the gears as the gears al- 'ways remain `in mesh. In driving along the road under ordinary conditions the tension of the springs should be such as .to

enable the entire mechanism to operate on i direct drive.4 When a hill is reached which would compel the driver with the ordinary change gear to shift into inter-V mediate gear, the eccentric straps begin to work, the' torque of the driving shaft is divided between the eccentrics and the gear as above described and this continues until the top of `the hill or other place is reached where the tension of the springs is again able to restrain the eccentric straps and the car is'driven in directdrive If a very steep hill is reached which would compel the driver with the ordinary change gear to shift into'low gear, the resistance will cause the drum to go slower v and slower and finally stop, at which time, as above described, the torque of the drivthe gear, the eccentric straps although working, simply reciprocating and giving back as much power as they take excepting that power lost by friction.

ing shaft 'will be. exerted entirely through In connection with the foregoing I have not described any means for reversing the rotation of the driven shaft as such means is Well understood by those skilled in the art and forms no part of my invention.

It is obvious that the details of arrangement and construction as herein shown and described may be considerably varied with out departing from the spirit of my invention and I do not restrict myself to such details further than the scope of the appended claims demands. It is further clear that any mechanical equivalents may be substituted for the parts herein without departing from the invention; for example, the substitution of cranks for the eccentrics disclosed v I would furthermore state that although I have shown and described my device in connection with the operation of an automobile, such mode of operation is merely illustrative andv is not intended to confine the scope of the invention to such use, as it may readily be adapted to any use wherein the necessity for changing speed arises.

In this connection I would state that I have adapted the principles of the invention herein described to use in connection with clutch mechanism and that I intend to file a separate application to cover the same.

I claim: V

l. In a device for transmitting power, a driving shaft, a gear thereon, a driven shaft, a gear thereon, gears connecting said driving and driven gears, a member carrying said connecting gears, an eccentric mounted on the driving shaft, a strap driven through v said eccentric and a yielding connection between said strap and said member.

2. In a device for transmitting power, a

driving shaft, a gear thereon, a driven shaft,

a gear thereon, gearsconnecting said driving and driven gears, a rotatable member carrying said connecting gears, an eccentric mounted on the driving shaft, a strap driven through said eccentric and a yielding connection betweeny said strap and said member.

3. In a device for transmitting power, a driving shaft, a gea-r thereon, a driven shaft, a gear thereon, gears connecting said driving and driven gears, a member carrying said connecting gears, means restraining said member from reverse rotation, an eccentric mounted on the driving shaft, a strap driven through said eccentric and a yielding con`- nection between said strap and said member.

4. In a device for transmitting power, a driving shaft, a gear thereon, a driven shaft, a gear thereon, gears connecting said driving and driven gears, a member carrying said connecting gears, an eccentric mounted on the driving shaft, a strap driven through said eccentric and a connection between said strap and said member adapted to hold said strap against reciprocation when the resistance is slight so that all of the power is when the resistance is great to transmit all the power through the gears.

5. In a device for transmitting power, a

driving shaft, a gear thereon, a driven shaft,

a gear thereon, gears connecting said driving and driven gears, a member carrymg'said connectlng gears and a connection between vthe driving shaft and said member adapted to yield when the resistance is great and onl each revolution of the draving shaft to return. the power expended in causing said yielding.

. 6. In a device for transmitting power, a driving shaft, a gear thereon, a driven shaft,l a gear thereon, gears connecting said driving and driven gears, a rotatable casing in which said connecting gears are mounted, an eccentric mounted on the driving shaft, 4a stra driven through said eccentric and a yiel ing connection between said strap and said casing.

7. Ina device for transmitting power, a driving shaft, a gear thereon, a driven shaft, a gear thereon, gears connecting said driving and driven gears, a rotatable casin in which said connecting gears are mounte a flange on said casing, means for frictionally holding said iange to bring the casing against reverse rotation, an eccentric mounted on the driving shaft, a. strap driven through said eccentric and a yielding connection between said strap and said casing.

8. In a device for transmitting power, a driving shaft, a gear thereon, a drivenshaft, a gear thereon, a rotatable casing mounted on the driving and driven shafts, gears mounted in said casing connecting said driving and driven gears, a pin on said casing, an eccentric mounted on the driving shaft, a strap driven through said eccentric provided with a perforation for receiving said pin and a yielding connection between said strap and said casing.

9. In a-device for transmitting power, .a

a driven shaft ing and driven gears, an eccentric mounted on the driving shaft, a strap driven through said eccentric and a spring connecting said strap and said casing.

10. In a device for transmitting power, a driving shaft, a gear thereon, a driven shaft, a gearl thereon, a casing rotatably mounted on said driving and driven shafts, gears mounted in said casing and a yielding connection between the driving shaft and said casing adapted to permit the casing to be driven directly by the driving shaft when driving shaft, a gear thereon, a driven shaft, a gear thereon, gears connecting said driving and `driven gears2 a rotatable healing carrying sald connecting gears, and means actuated by the driving shaft for rotating said bearing,`responsive to the-resistance of 10 the driven shaft controlling the action of said rotatable bearing.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification.

JOHN R. ROGERS. 

